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Show A4 It D A HERALD Y June 20, 2008 Friday, FAST FACT In the Jewish calendar, Morning briefing Tammuz is the name of the month that falls during June and July. Source: The Bool of Answers Compiled from Daily Herald wire services The Nation The WORLD to lift Cuba sanctions EU , J' mm, .J . Yi 0 trying Emirates sheik country's government from his ailing brother FideL The measures were imposed five years ago and 'A '.I Swiss BRUSSELS, Belgium The European Union's external relations commissioner says the EU has agreed to lift sanctions on Cuba. Benita Ferrero-Waidne- r told reporters Thursday that EU leaders feel they have to cooperate with changes in Cuba after Raul Castro took over as the head of the t suspended in 2005. inSome EU nations cluding the Czech Republic have been reand Sweden luctant to lift the diplomatic sanctions during the two-da- y summit in Belgium, saying they wanted to see Cuba improve human rights first. And Washington, which imposed a trade blockade of Cuba nearly 50 years ago, has no immediate plans to argued Thursday that a brother of the United Arab Emirates' ruler should receive the maximum penalty on a charge of assaulting an American man with his belt in a luxury hotel bar. Silvano Orsi, a resident of Rochester, N.Y., says Sheik Falah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan hit him repeatedly with a belt with a steel buckle after Orsi declined a bottle of champagne from the sheik. The sheik and his lawyer deny the charges. Defense lawyer Marco Crisante told the court that Orsi's legal complaint was full of lies meant to pressure the sheik for money. Geneva's chief prosecutor, Daniel Zappel-li- , said that the defendant should be given the maximum penalty of more than $960,000 for the incident in the bar of Geneva's La Reserve Hotel. lift it. Britain pushes over sanctions against Iran EVAN Touring the flood zone President Bush statement to media VUCCIAssociated Press gestures during a during a tour of the Midwest flood damage in Iowa City, Iowa, on Iowa City mayor Regenia Bailey, Secretary of Homeland Security Thursday, Efom left is Bush, Sen. Tom Harkin, Michael Chertoff, Man Culver and Iowa Gov. Chet Culver. Ala. 18-ye- ar inmate dies after wait for retrial TALLADEGA, Ala. - "I'm really surprised," Shaffer said. "It's not about historic preservation, we all know that. It's about revenge." The rock's removal triggered More than a decade ago, a frustrated judge vowed there would be no more delays in the stalled retrial of death row inmate Shep Wilson Jr. But the postponements only continued: a mental evaluation, a sick attorney, changes of judges and prosecutors, and a blizzard of legal papers. By the time he died in prison last week of liver failure, Wilson had waited a total of nearly 18 years without ever getting a new trial in the slaying of a teenage store clerk. Was it a case of justice denied or the justice system played? Prosecutors said their case was solid, and defense lawyers admitted in court papers that Wilson would probably have been convicted in a second trial and possibly sentenced to death. "Sometimes in a death penalty case, they say delay is in favor of the defendant. This might be one of those cases," Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington-base- d Death Penalty Information Center, said Thursday. Hawaiian group wants monarchy restored HONOLULU Surrounded by royal guards and the occasional tourist, Her Majesty Mahealani Kahau and her government ministers hold court every day in a tent outside the palace of Hawaii's last monarch, passing laws and discussing how to secure reparations for the Native Hawaiian people. ' Kahau and her followers are members of the self Hawaiian Kingdom Government, whicjfs devoted to restoring the Hawaiian monarchy overthrown in 1893. Nearly twomonths ago, they stormed the gates of the old lolani Palace, and they have politely occupied the grounds ever since, operating like a government a dispute between Shaffer and elected officials in Kentucky who insist it belongs in their state. Shaffer says he saved it from being damaged or lost forever. It now sits in a city garage in Portsmouth, Ohio. The rock was once a navigation marker and an attraction for locals who ventured out to carve their names into it, but it hadn't been seen since the y VARl i NOTRESPASsSA THBt ret van "WMtv CRIMINAL TRESPASS 1920s. ; MARCO GARCIAAssociated Press sign is posted on the gate of the lolani Palace in Honolulu in this April 30, 2008, file photo. A Native Hawaiian group that advocates sovereignty locked the gates of the historic palace April 30, saying it would carry out the business of what it considers the legitimate government of the islands. A U.S. District Judge Franklin Burgess to suspend all but 18 months. They maintained her innocence and sought leniency, citing her life in recent years as a violin teacher and as the mother of a girl. Prosecutors had sought 10 years, half the maximum. Congress debates intervention into racing safety WASHINGTON The im- age painted was not a pleasant owner one as the of thoroughbred racing's top horse pleaded before Congress to save his sport. "We're looking for Arnold Schwarzenegger's upper body and then we go to Don Knotts' legs and knees," said Jess Jackson, owner of 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin. "We don't need all of the inbreeding we have. I go to Argentina to buy horses; I go to Germany to buy horses because they have stronger bones and better knees. We need a league and a commissioner. We need action, -" please. Congress, help."- Bloodlines, steroids, the lack of an authoritative governing body, alarming figures on horse deaths and a breech of protocol by Big Brown's trainer were all topics of discussion Thursday before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection. The hearing was called after Eight Belles broke down at the Kentucky Derby last month and was euthanized on the track. grand jury indicts Ohio man in rock Ky. dispute An FRANKFORT, Ky. Ohio historian could face hard time, all because of a rock. A Kentucky grand jury indicted Steve Shaffer on Thursday for leading efforts boulder known to pull an as Indian Head Rock from the Ohio River. The indictment accuses Shaffer of breaking Kentucky law by removing a protected archaeological object, a felony. He could face one to five years in prison if convicted. It remained mostly submerged until September, when Shaffer led the crew that pulled it from the river, which forms a border between Ohio and Kentucky. The rock has carvings of initials, names and a crude face that some claim is a petroglyph carved by an unknown American Indian. health clinic evacuated Ark. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A d health clinic in northwestern Arkansas was evacuated on Thursday after more than 30 people were sickened with symptoms including nausea, dizziness and in some cases, uncontrollable drooling. None of the 31 people sickened at the Washington County Health Unit in Fayetteville, including two patients, were considered to be in condition, health officials said. All but six of those sickened were treated and released from area hospitals by Thursday afternoon. A hazardous materials unit from the National Guard base at Camp Robinson was sent to the clinic to run tests, Arkansas Department of Health spokeswoman Ann Wright said. Health officials were looking into whether the outbreak might be related to an exterminator's visit to the clinic this EU BRUSSELS, Belgium Britain's drive for tighter EU sanctions against Iran slowed Thursday with European diplomats saying soaring food and fuel prices make a decision targeting the Iranian oil sector unlike-- : ly for months. The European Union hesitancy comes despite growing sentiment among many of the bloc's individual nations that tougher steps are . needed to keep Iran from turning its nuclear activities into weapons. Still, the diplomatic assessment is a setback to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who assured President Bush this week that the EU would soon start a "new phase of sanctions on oil and gas." The problem the Europeans face is what steps to take and when. Hitting Iran's oil and gas sector could further push up energy prices, which have prompted disruptive protests around Europe by fishermen, truckers and farmers in recent weeks. "There are no good options with regard to sanctions on oil and gas in Iran," said Mark Thomas of the Royal United Services Institute in Qatar. "With oil prices as they are it's not even an option." . some Jimmy Choo high heels custom made to match her pink ensemble. "They are incredibly comfortable," Raff erty said before striding into the Royal Enclosure to mingle with Queen Elizabeth II and other horse-madignitaries on a sparkling day with long spells of bright sunshine. "They were made by the man himself, from the couture side of the business, so they fit like slippers." She was not the only one preening. In a world of ca-- . sual Fridays, where dressing down has become a depressing fact of life, Ladies Day at Royal Ascot is the one day of the year when people who like to dress up can exact revenge on slackers who prefer track suits and leisure wear. It's a day tailor-mad- e for breaking rules. No one seemed shy about ordering their first chilled glass of Bollinger champagne at 10:55 in the morning, or about placing a bet on what color hat the queen would wear, or donning a top hat that spends the rest of the year in the closet. d Hats and heels take the day at Ascot's Ladies Day SCOT, England Gene- GENEVA va's chief prosecutor This was no time for sensible shoes. Or sensible anything, for that matter. y So Georgina Owen decided to rise to LaThursday's occasion dies Day at the Royal Ascot race meeting and have Raf-fert- 9 week. X Lookout in Wash, fire gets 6 years A TACOMA, Wash. woman convicted of serving as a lookout when radical environmentalists set a devastating fire at the University of Washington was sentenced Thursday to serve six years in prison and pay $6 million in restitution. Briana Waters, 32, of Oakland, Calif., was an Evergreen State College student in 2001 when others set fire to the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle. The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility, saying mistakenly that researchers there were genetically modifying poplar trees. Waters was convicted in March of two counts of arson after a trial in U.S. District Court in Tacoma. She faced a mandatory minimum of five years. Her lawyers, who are appealing her conviction, asked . ? v- - - ;;ntf n ", Ip"' - a.' f ' jt JAVIER JACQUELYN MARTIN Associated Press Visiting Havana y OALEANOAssociated A member of the honor guard looks back before The Raven Canoe d Members of the Tlingit Nation of Southeast Alaska, board a dugout canoe, known as the Raven Canoe on Thursday, during the ceremonial launching of the boat on the Potomac River in Washington. 26-fo- hand-carve- Press J a welcoming ceremony for Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez, unseen, at the Revolution palace in Havana on Wednesday. Vazquez is on a four-da- y official visit to Cuba. ' |